IntroductionAnd as I sit here, wondering in what grammatical dimension I must reside in to get awaywith starting a manuscript with the word And.My internal alarm bells ring... I look towards the clock and see its display of thatenigmatical number again. 23:23.Its dark out in here.They say that you should look with your eyes, not with you hands... In this manuscript Iintend to explore a few ways in which you will allow your spectators to feel with theireyes.Youll note my use of a common phrase throughout my works; It is an artists job toprovoke emotion.To me this says more than it does upon first glance, of course you want your spectatorsto react you want to provoke emotional response, however, I seek to go deeper. I lookto use the aforementioned emotional response and intensify it, to create motion. To moveyour spectators so that the experience is one that stays with them for a long time.My first book, Proximity Effects explored a variety of my older material, some of whichI use to this day; i.e. cold: the telesthesia cards and some of which that dont fit mystyle anymore; i.e. deviance.The running theme of the book however, was the introduction of the techniques I use toenhance base reactions, adding in phrases which might make people question whetherwhat you are doing is real or not, turning a book test into a reading, if you force a word,why not a word that allows you to branch off to something more?With this manuscript, I intend to look at some other routines that allow you to reallyconnect with your spectators, storyboarding your effects and using the wording to allowthe participants to feel that the routine is relevant to them, or just draw the participants inwhen in a more intimate environment.So, without further a due, I am proud to welcome you to my latest works; 23:23 aCollection.

Sylla-CodeMany mentalists including Anneman, Cassidy and Grant have explored the two-personcode and in more recent times Max Maven, whos heavily inspired this routine with hisBurnt offerings which is a very unique two-person code from his Blue book ofmentalism.This code also requires a small extra item, a pad on which you will draw the 5 ESPsymbols weve all come to know and love, namely the circle, cross, three wavy lines,square and five pointed star.This could of course be done on the fly if a pad is on stage, or for close up instances itcould be drawn on a napkin.The reasoning for this is so that the spectator can select one of these symbols silently.The effect is as follows:The magician calls over his assistant, his partner perhaps, (the other half to the twopeople you generally require for a two-person code) to help out with this effect.The assistant is blindfolded or asked to stand back to back (or cheek to cheek to coin aBanachek phrase) with the spectator.Now, in a moment I am going to ask you (the spectator) to silently select any of the fivestandard Zenner symbols and my assistant here is going to attempt to divine thisselection!Ok, could you please point to one of these symbols for me...Thats perfect, thank you!Assistant! (Feel free to use their real name here) Divine the thought of symbol!The assistant will of course reply with the correct choice in this case, the star!The code is in the script above. The reason Ive named this effect Sylla-Code because itworks on syllables.Dont worry! Its not a set of complex algorithms, but it could be made more complexwith more than five options, I feel that the five options would be fine for a casualperformance however.So, the code its self. Weve mentioned the use of syllables, but how does it work soinconspicuously?

The key is the simple pleasantry you say right after they make their selection. Rememberwhere I said: Thats perfect, thank you!Thats the code. Look at the number of syllables in that quick phrase, its five syllables,which equates to the star the fifth symbol in the Zenner sequence.The full code for the Zenner symbols is below:1 Circle Great! (One Syllable)2 Cross O.K! (Two Syllables)3 Wavy Lines Fantastic!

(Three Syllables)

4 Square Thats Wonderful! (Four Syllables)

5 Star Thats Perfect, Thank You! (Five Syllables)So there you go, the basis of my Sylla-Code System. As aforementioned, you couldextend this idea to have more options, though I think that its a very strong and directdemonstration as is.You should note that the above pleasantries are just as examples, Ill use a variety ofdifferent phrases, depending on the people Im performing to. The key is the number ofsyllables in the phrase, which is a very simple idea to adhere to.I just look forward to the day that somebody comes to me with a set of 52 phrasesrelevant to a thought of card effect!So, now weve looked at the basic concept of this system, what other ways can weachieve the means to such a clean and direct end?

Morse Syllacode Variation

Im a fan of instant stooging. There, I said it!In my opinion, you can create a very good relationship with a member of the audience,allow them to feel special and have a great time while still retaining an amount ofmystery and creating a phenomenally baffling effect for all the other spectators...Whenits done right.This is to incorporate a simple stooging technique to the routine. This could be used toplay as a 2nd phase.I must add credit to Luke Jermay for this, he didnt create instant stooging by any means,but it was his work that inspired this twist on the plot. The tapping inconspicuously goesto Banachek with his PK touches routine.You will bring 2 spectators up to the stage, your partner will stand at one edge of thestage looking after the first she will be holding the pad with the symbols drawn upon it.You will be standing on the other side of the stage with your spectator who you explainwill read the mind this time. You even blindfold them to make it impossible to catch aglimpse of anything. (I think this is quite important, Ill explain why in a moment!)You will have the sign chosen and use the code as before, but this time, rather than younaming the sign, you will say to your spectator:Ok, so a symbol has been selected, it could be the circle, the star, wavy lines Any ofthe 5. Youll feel something that will just tell you that this is the right symbol, youll justget a feeling that its right The square, the circle, the wavy lines. Please tell theaudience, which did you feel is the correct sign?The reason Ive bolded the word circle above is that you are going to give the signal toyour spectator that this is the correct sign by tapping them quickly on the back at thepoint that you say this word each time. I do it twice in case they miss it the first time They usually click on the second time and will usually acknowledge what youre doing.Dont worry though; the audience wont catch on to this!I tap them about 3 times quickly and just hard enough for them to notice that youredoing it on purpose rather than just brushing off them! Dont hit them too hard though,that would be bad.As for angles, we all know that its bad manners to stand with your back to the audience,here especially as youll reveal what youre doing! It should just look like yourestanding slightly behind your spectator as you gesture and talk.

I mentioned the importance of a blindfold earlier; this is simply to heighten the othersenses. If they cant see, they are much more receptive to touch. So its just a safety net!If the spectator doesnt quite get it, dont worry, try again or if all else fails you can stillreveal as the climax as you know what sign it is.

The Svengali Toss - Remastered

The following is my take on the classic Tossed out deck made popular by David Hoy.From the title you probably have a rough idea of the secret to this effect The SvengaliDeck. This is a deck where every 2nd card is a duplicate and is shorter than the other 26,allowing you to riffle through one way to see all duplicates, the other to see a shuffleddeck. These are available from all magic dealers and most toy shops!While Im sure this must have been done before, Ive not seen it in print and feel that thebonus notes are worth looking at! Im happy to add credits to the product page of my siteto reference anyone that should be mentioned here.The effect is as follows:The magician flicks through or spreads on the table a shuffled deck.As you can see, all the cards are different. Is there any one in who plays cards? You sir,are you familiar with the idea of a poker peek? Yes, its usually done with a tabled pair ofcards and you simply pull up on the corner gently so that you can see your card and noone else can.The magician demonstrates this with the deck by pulling up on a corner of a card in themiddle of the deck and peeking it.Im going to wrap some bands around the deck to make this peek easier.The deck is passed to a spectator who will peek one card from the face up deck. (facedown would show an indifferent card!) They are asked to pass on the deck 5 seats until 3spectators from various places have seen a card.Ok, you all remember your cards? Could you please stand up for me? Thanks. I amgoing to in a moment name 3 cards, if your card is named, please sit down!The magician names 3 cards and all 3 spectators sit down!The method behind this is very simple, as long as they peek the card from the face updeck, they will always see the force card. The rubber bands stop the deck from beinglooked through and as long as the script is followed (and the force card is one of the 3you name) the spectators will always sit down!

Notes:The classic tossed out deck by David Hoy was the same as the above routine, but used aone-way force deck. Its a great routine and can be picked up in various publications,though Ive seen ebooks dedicated to the subject.The reason the word remastered is in the title is down to this:Marc Oberons Master Deck.This is a great deck of which I wont get into too much detail as not to expose the secret,but those who own it will find great delight in the idea of throwing that out, as long asyou have them peek on a certain corner, you know that their card is one of very smallnumber and then card follow similar ideas as Mavens Tossed out tech to fish and findout whos got what for a very detailed reveal.I always carry the effect Bang-On in my jacket; its an any named card in wallet. Itsvery direct and very powerful. Again, this is a Marc Oberon product! Marc uses Bang-Onmainly as an out for an effect where he genuinely guesses which card the spectator isthinking of.Its perfect as an out for the tossed out deck in case some naughty spectator feels thatthey would like to name a totally different card when you ask them why the havent satdown!Are you sure you saw that card? You must be mistaken as that card is the only one notin the deck, I keep it in my wallet here...

Altered Signed Coin Disfigurement Version 1

Effect: A coin is borrowed from a spectator, is dated on one side and the spectatorsinitials are written on the other.The Coin is placed in the spectators own hands in a sandwich manner. They begin to feelthe coin warm up, it starts to twitch and the spectator can feel it warp and bend in theirhands.When the spectators hands are opened, the newly bent coin is apparent. The magicianshows it on either side and the date and initials are still intact and the coin is handed backto the spectator to keep as a souvenir.Preparation: A coin must be bent preceding the performance; the main concept involvesswitching the borrowed coin for this pre-bent coin.A coin has been included along with a small magnet and some wax. You must write thedate of the performance on the outside of the bent coin and wax the small magnet on onehalf of this side, per the photo below.

You must also wear a more powerful magnet on your wrist; alternatively a PK ring willsuffice. When using a PK ring, I will secretly remove it from my finger to lay it flat outon my fingers, clipping it as it is more powerful this way.It is best to make sure that the outward facing sides of the magnets repel each other, ifthey attract the spectator will still feel the coin move, but not to the same extent.Method:You must have your gimmicked coin in an easily accessible place so you can grab it intoa right hand (if left handed like me, or left hand if right handed. You must write on thecoin in the following stages,) finger palm position as you begin this effect. I place it intothe same pocket as my sharpie as then I can steal the coin as I bring out the pen.

You will borrow a coin from a spectator matching the one you have bent. I often carryaround a few ready to go coins of different denominations in case nobody has a 10 pencepiece on them. If your not willing to invest in a few more little magnets, you couldalways explain that it must be a 10 pence as there is an unusual property to the metal. Ifyou use a different currency, you can adjust the patter to fit.So, at this point you will have a borrowed coin in your left hand and will appear to reachinto you pocket to retrieve your pen. In reality, you are retrieving your pen, but you alsosteal your gimmicked coin into a finger palm.You will now sign and date the coin for future reference.Im left handed, so I have the pen in my left hand and the coins in my right. All I do toget to this position is switch the borrowed coin from my left with the pen from my righthand as I open the lid of the pen. Nothing sneaky there, but I feel its best to cover everymotion.Now the coins are held as in the photo below and youre ready to begin the marking ofthe coins.

You remember that you have written the date on the outside of the bent coin, so you musthave the blank inside facing you ready to write on their initials. It is good practice towrite the date on the same side of the borrowed coin, in case you have any very observantspectators.You begin by saying that you are going to mark the coin for future reference, in that youask the date I often pretend like Im unsure and either way the outcome is as predicted.You write the date on the borrowed coin.Then you must turn over the borrowed coin in your hand and ask for their initials. Whenthey answer you, you should write this on the blank side of the bent coin.So now you have a borrowed coin with the date written on one side and a bent coin withthe date and their initials written on it in your right hand and the pen in your left.To ditch the borrowed coin you will reach over with your right hand to remove the lid ofthe pen from its bottom and replace it on top and place the pen in your left hand side

pocket. As you remove the lid you should transfer the borrowed coin to your left handsecretly and ditch this also in your pocket.Now you are left with just the bent, signed coin in your hands. The next step is to placethe coin in their hands and bend it.You will ask the spectator to hold out one of their hands and pinching the coin at thebend, will place it in their hand magnet side down and ask them to sandwich it with theother hand. This is illustrated below. Ask them to keep their hands absolutely still duringthe effect, I often say that it might not work if they dont.

Dont worry about them realizing the coin is bent. Youve not told them whats going tohappen yet and people just wont notice, as theyre not used to holding a coin in thisfashion.Now its all about presentation and making them believe theyre feeling the coin bend,not just move. The best way to do this is to first suggest to them that they will feel theirhands getting warmer and as they begin to react change your patter to tell them that itsthe coin getting warmer. People naturally associate this heating with bending and whenthe coin starts to warp and bend they have to circum! I have my hands over theirs as ifIm focusing my energy into this particular place.All you must do from here is wave your hand closer to theirs and the coin will movebecause of the magnet you are wearing. I tend to use my PK rig in the flat out methodmentioned before. Its easy to slide a ring on and off the finger with one hand with a littlepractice; alternatively you may just use a wrist worn magnet.Once they are suitably freaked out, you may show your hands empty and get them toslowly lift off their top hand. They will see the bent coin and react heavily to this, youmust gently remove it from their hand before they do and see the magnet!You can just pick it up pinching it on top of the magnet (which your thumb should cover)and show it from all angles. Then you will place it back onto their hand and in doing soslide the magnet away with your thumb as shown below. The photos are for illustrationonly, these are exposed shots.

That essentially is the entire presentation of the effect and it leaves the spectator with agreat souvenir they will often carry around with them and show their friends and family.This is a very simple to perform, yet powerful effect which the emphasis is on theperformance, but is a simple enough idea to convey. You dont necessarily have to havethe coin signed and you dont necessarily have to say anything. In a foreign speakingcountry you could walk up with a coin, place it in someones hand and they will feel itbend. The suggestion in this effect is not the basis on which they feel the coin bend, butmerely an emphasis. The strength of using the magnet concept is that everyone will feel ithappen, thats the key.

Shift 2.0Despite the distinctly mental nature of the rest of this book, I felt that this deservedinclusion.This routine is an evolution from the original Shift routine from my first book "ProximityEffects."This is the way I perform this routine at every one of my gigs. It gets the spectatorinvolved in the moment the magic happens and creates an insanely impossible twist.Required Props: To perform this effect you will need a double backed card, if you donot have one you can quite easily make one by gluing 2 cards face to face.The card is only ever shown as part of the deck or in motion, so the thickness isn't anissue. The double backed card should be in 2nd position from the top, with the force cardon top.As well as the double backed card, you will also need a duplicate of the card you aregoing to force them to choose.This should be placed face out (so that the face is revealed first) where ever you wish toproduce it. I usually use my breast pocket, perhaps my wallet or an envelope, which hasbeen lain on the table from the start.Method: There are a few different parts to this routine. These are as follows:- The Force- The Signing- The Vanish- The Production- The Signature RevelationI'll begin by explaining the force I tend to use, I've explained this in my previous workand it's also covered by a number of different sources.This is the force I use the most in my performance and I've yet to be caught out. Thephotos are of a very exposed view, naturally!The below photos demonstrate the force, you simply ask a spectator to stop you at anypoint during your riffle through of the cards. Instead of cutting directly to the realselected card, you retain the top card and slip it down onto the bottom packet. The topforce card now looks like a totally random selection.

Any force will work though as long as you can retain the double backed card on the topafter the card has been taken.Now that the correct card has been selected, it must be signed.I take quite the un-orthodox route with having cards signed for this routine, I ask for asignature on the back of the card.The real reason for this will become apparent later on, the reason I tell my spectators isthat by signing on the back it's creates a totally unique card, different from all the othercards in the deck, a unique face and now a unique back.Aside from being a reasonable explanation, you'll note that it also suggests that there areno other cards with the same face in play. I feel this is something important to note, but ina subtle way.The card has been signed and is taken back by the magician - it doesn't matter if he seesthe value in this trick, I'll often explain as I place the card face up on top of the face downdeck. The signed card sits upon the double backer.From here we do the vanish. The vanish used is a variation on the classic colour changeala Erdnase.Essentially what this should look like is as if you are blatantly palming off the selectionto drop it into the spectator's hands.I'll generally say some thing like:"You know why use magicians are often banned from casinos?""You cheat?""Very good, we cheat - there is one move in particular that when done right can createthe perfect hand in a game of poker. The palm."

"Have you ever seen a gambler palm a card?"

At this point you will push your hand forward, following the approximate motion that theErdnase colour change does, sliding the card off into a classic palm to show thespectators."Ok, watch - hold out your hands, get ready to catch the card in case I drop it!"Here you will mock the exact same motion, but instead of palming off the selection youperform an Erdnase colour change ending with the double backed card on top of the faceup selection.This is the important bit - you must allow them to believe that the card is really in yourhand and take your time.Allow it to go a little quieter and gently 'drop' the non present card onto their waitinghands - obviously there is no card in your hand, but if you jerk your hand down amillimeter and spread your closed fingers open, it looks as if the card vanishes in mid air.So now we have the first 3 parts of the routine done. The card is in the correct positionfor the reveal and you have the audience in awe at the vanish.I make a note to now show my hand empty, still in silence and slowly reach up to my toppocket, pulling the card out very slowly, allowing the anticipation to build.When people see the face of the card they flip - that's the card you just 'dropped' into theirhand.The reaction is the perfect time to casually drop it on the top of the deck, as in the first'Shift' routine.The reveal then is as follows:"Can you please confirm to everyone that this is your card?""Yes!""And can you also confirm that this is your signature?"This is the point at which a triple lift is done, literally just to flip the 3 top cards over asone so that the spectator's signature is staring right up at them and you are now free ofany reversed cards.

Final Notes:As I mentioned, this routine is one that I do all the time. A variation on the vanish I'vejust taught is Daniel Madison's half vanish, which puts the card into the right position butrather than mocking picking up the card you can appear to just wave your hand over thedeck and the card will vanish one half at a time.This vanish is taught on Daniel's "Dangerous - Disc 1 - Mystique"

Turnover 23: Evolution of the Mexican Turnover

The standard Mexican turnover allows you to switch 2 cards of the same back, a card thespectator names with a joker for instance, where as Turnover 23 allows you with the aidof a double backed card to appear as if you have a different backed prediction thusgiving a really fair prediction effect.I used to use this routine with a 5-way force deck and using the fishing taught in myeffect Cold from the book Proximity Effects. I found that this just wasnt very logical;the 5-way force deck isnt necessary, though it makes your location job easier, it meansthat a card has to be selected rather than the freer naming of a card.Also, if theres a prediction on the table which you know is their card why would youhave to read their thoughts?Effect:A card from a different deck is laid on the table as a prediction. The spectator is asked toname the first card that pops into their head on the count of 3. The magician flips over thecard at arms length to show that is matches perfectly!Preparation:As mentioned, youll need a double backed card of different backs you can easily getbicycle Red/Blue backs from your local magic dealer.You will have the deck set up with a joker on the top of the deck You could if youwished use a brand new deck still in order to make your location of the named cardeasier.Thats all the prep required.I suggest looking up the Mexican Turnover however Its described in various books,its in Giobbis Card College Vol. 4 though Conradi described the so called "MexicanTurnover" in his Der Moderne Kartenkunstler (1896) on page 16 under the title TheAmerican Strong Trick.Thats the furthest back reference to the move I could find, though it could be older!

Method:Ive placed down a prediction here from a different deck. Im going to in a moment askyou to name the first card that pops into your head. Im not going to try andpsychologically influence you in any way, but if you could name the first card on 1 2 3!Once the card is named you can cover having to locate their card like so:The 4 of clubs? Is there any reason you chose that card? Let me just grab a joker here Do you live at number 4 or born of the forth? So it was a totally random choice?Interesting...Ive found that through adding the joker line in the middle of something else allowspeople to take note of what youre doing, but not really question it as youre askingthings and very much in command.Youve found your selection, so place it on top and double lift to show the joker you havepre-placed.I dont want to even touch the card, so well use the joker to flip it over at armslength!You need to slide the selection in your hand (they believe its a joker), face down ofcourse, under the bottom right corner of the card from your perspective and begin to flipit inwards. So the long left hand edge retains contact with the table.As the card flips, you need to grasp the double backed card and drop the selection lettingit flip face up, and continue flipping the double backed card over to reveal the backmatching the deck.To the spectator it should look simply as you have used the indifferent card to flip overthe different backed prediction.You should practice the motions in front of a mirror to get it looking natural.The illusion is perfect as they see the indifferent back vanish and the face appear, whilethe same back is constant.Replace the double backed card on top of the deck as if it was the card you just took. Youcould double again to show a joker, but I dont feel its necessary. Its draws too muchattention to what you did.After the amazement has set in from your spectators that you knew all along what cardthey would merely think of, take the card and place it face up on the face down deck. Itsnow sitting directly above the double backer, so if you double lift, you can show that the

card really does have the different back. You shouldnt draw attention to this though, ifit were a card from a different deck you wouldnt stress that it has a different colourback.You have flipped the cards so now the different backed card is on top of the deck, justtake this off and place it back in your pocket!If you slide the top card now into the middle again, youre reset!